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Galen was born in 2237, the child of two techno-mages. Shortly afterwards Elric was assigned by The Circle to monitor his development. Galen's parents would fight often, leading his mother to become increasingly dissatisfied with his father's persistent womanising with Alwyn.[2]

In 2247, both of Galen's parents died when they killed one another following a heated argument. Following their deaths, Galen was taken in by Elric, becoming his ward and his pupil. Around this time Galen decided that he wanted to be a healer, a desire that would stay with him all the way to age 18.[2]

In 2255 Galen attended a Convocation of The Circle where he chose the name 'Galen' for himself, taking it from Aelius Galenus, an ancient Greek physician and philosopher. However, he found he had no aptitude for healing. [2]

“

"When he took me in after my father died, I spent most of my life being afraid of him because he was tall and powerful, and that voice... and because I was afraid that I might lose him, too, just as I'd lost my father."

– Galen to Alwyn

In 2258 Galen was inducted into the techno-mage Order. Early in his career he was said to have focused too much time on spells and not their presentation. Also, he had not yet developed his own style, instead mimicking the incantations of earlier techno-mages.[2]

Galen and fellow Techno-mage, Isabelle, shared a very brief but intense relationship toward the end of 2258.[2] Though the two were only involved for a short time, they developed a relationship in which they could speak volumes to one another without saying a word. As Galen would say of her "She would make you happy with one word, hello." Her abilities as a techno-mage were at least on the same level as Galen's.

Shortly after their initiation as Techno-mages, he was partnered with Isabelle in an assignment to gather evidence of the Shadows' return by tracking the movements of their allies on her home world of Zafran VIII.

Not long after leaving Zafran VIII, they traveled to Brensil IV where they met with Elizar. After many attempts at convincing the two that there was a conspiracy within The Circle that they knew about the Shadow threat, Tilar who was a rogue Techo-mage appeared to them and proceeded to open fire at the two loyal Techno-mages. Isabelle was dealt a mortal blow by the rogue Techno-mage Elizar. Soon after this, she succumbed to her injuries and died. Just prior to dying, she reassured her distraught beloved, that if there was a way, that she would contact him from the afterlife.[3][2]

Matthew Gideon was the sole survivor of an attack on the EAS Cerberus, which left him floating in Space. Gideon was picked up by Galen, who later dropped him off at Omega VII.[3] Galen along with his fellow techno-mages were not in that region of space by coincidence, they were themselves tracking the movements of the unknownShadow tech vessel that eventuallly destroyed the Cerberus.[4][3][5]

Galen’s pursuit of rogue mages Elizar and Razeel led him to the Shadows' homeworld. His vessel was intercepted by Ulkesh who ascribed him the means to land on Z’ha’dum safely, but on approach a scan by The Eye overwhelmed Galen leaving him barely conscious, fighting to control the tech within him. After a four-day struggle, Galen regained control and landed on the surface, witnessing among other activities the creation of new soldiers for the war. As he confronted Elizar and Razeel, the White Star 1 arrived carrying John and Anna Sheridan. Using the spell of destruction Galen ended the lives of the rogue techno-mages and rushed to aid John’s escape, as he was pinned down in a corridor by gunfire. Galen told him to wait a few minutes then bring the White Star down. Interfacing with the Eye, he discovered Wierden at the heart of the Shadow machine. Turning the Eye away to the White Star’s approach, Galen was confronted by Morden as the ship approached. Conjouring a platform, Galen grabbed Morden and they flew into the catacombs as the bombs aboard the White Star detonated. The shield around them was barely enough to protect them and both were severely burned by the detonation flash. Waking a short time later, Galen found Morden gone and was confronted by Lorien, who assured him Sheridan was safe. Transported to the surface, Galen hijacked a Shadow vessel to make for the rendezvous with Federico to return to the techno-mages' hiding place.

After being healed, from the hiding place Galen began to monitor the outside galaxy for signs of any race using left over Shadow tech.[6][7]

In 2266 Galen used an electron incantation to appear in a dream to Interstellar Alliance President John Sheridan. Galen warned President Sheridan that if he did not act soon that Earth would suffer the same fate of Daltron VII, a dead world. Galen then later revealed that the Drakh had a ShadowDeath Cloud and that the destruction of Daltron VII was simply a test, and that they want revenge on Earth because humans had defeated their masters, the Shadows. Although the Circle warned Galen that they would only permit him to contact Sheridan and nobody else from the outside, Galen sent similar dreams to Ni'im, Captain Leonard Anderson, and Dureena Nafeel.[8] Shortly after this Galen was banished from his order for having too much contact with outsiders.

In 2259, Galen saved Gideon from death when he and the other techno-mages were leaving known space because of the Shadows.[3] After this, Gideon did not see Galen for several years. Shortly after the Drakh attack, Dureena told Gideon of Galen, and Gideon set out to find him. Galen questioned Gideon and his mission, then agreed to join the crew.[9] For the most part, Galen and Gideon were friends who worked together well, but at times, each would become irritated by the other. Indeed, it can be argued that Matthew was Galen's only friend as Galen was expelled by the others like him for breaking the rule about not communicating with the outside world when he spoke to John Sheridan. Because he was not a member of the crew, he frequently came and went as he pleased.

On Regula IV, they came across Elric's old friend Alwyn, an older techno-mage, They tried to stop Earthforce from mining a mineral that was ruining the land and water and poisoning the locals. They succeeded by creating an illusion that Alwyn was trying to destroy the ships in orbit. The Excalibur destroyed the illusion and in the process destroyed the mine.[10]

When they reached a planet to explore he told them not to go down there because the techno-mage who did was killed by what he called a spirit. They went down anyway. When the crew started to die, Dr. Chambers examined the bodies and found out that a nano-virus caused they people to die. Galen asked her to zoom in on part of the virus and he figured out that the nano-virus was made by a techno-mage. He goes down to the planet and puts on a protective shield. He then went down to take out the techno-mage. He found that the techno-mage had long since died, but a hologram of him and a huge machine remained.

When Galen tried to destroy it Dureena, who was under the control of the virus, appeared and tried to kill him. She threw a dagger into his shoulder, and then proceeded to charge at him when Gideon appeared and blew away the bridge she was crossing. She made it over and Galen throws his staff at the machine, which destroyed the machine. When Dr. Chambers treated his wounds she found cybernetic implants in his back. He said that the staff was a one of a kind control mechanism and he needed it back, which moments later Dureena, covered in mud, dropped at his feet. Galen then helped Dr. Chambers modify the virus to be a filter which would temporarily block the Drakh plague.[11]

When Gideon was chased by robotic ships on a supposedly dead world where some of their crew had been mysteriously killed, Galen saved Gideon in the nick of time. To investigate the world and the murders, Galen sent a probe to the surface. It contained a homonculus: similar to a hologram of Galen, but with more physical substance. His homunculus was quickly discovered and vivisected by the ships patrolling the surface, and Galen sent "his" head along with the removed organs so he could track the vessel back to its base. He figured out that aliens on the planet were conducting experiments on visiting species to find a cure for the plague. Throughout this time, he was approached more than once by Dureena who wanted him to teach her techno-magic. He refused, telling her that she wanted it for the wrong reasons: revenge against the Drakh.[12]

"Care no more to clothe and eat; To thee the reed is as the oak."
"The sceptre, learning, physic must. All follow this and come to dust."
"All lovers young, all lovers must. Consign to thee and come to dust."

– Galen's lament for Isabelle

In July 2267, Galen suggested the Excalibur search for the Well of Forever in hyperspace, in the hope of acquiring technologies that could lead to a cure for the Drakh plague. Gideon agreed, and Galen patched his ship's navigation systems into the Excalibur for the mission. When the search initially appeared fruitless, Gideon wanted to turn back, only to discover that Galen had taken control of the Excalibur's navigation and refused to relinquish it. Once the Well was located, Galen immediately flew his ship to it and laid Isabelle to rest there as he had promised her, in honor of her long years of attempting to find it. Gideon angrily confronted Galen upon his return with the discovery that the Well offered nothing of use to a possible cure. Galen apologized, promising never again to violate his trust, while gently challenging the innocence of the captain's own true motivation for helping him: to learn more about Galen's own ship and technology. Galen then erased all data about the Well from the Excalibur computers, making its existence secret once more.[13]

Galen approached Sheridan once again in 2271, to warn him of another threat to Earth. In 30 years time the Emperor of the Centauri Republic, Dius Vintari, will destroy Earth, as they are the only people standing in the way of the expansion of the Centauri Republic. Galen informed Sheridan that "there are ways to fix this", and thus Sheridan should kill Vintari. Sheridan arranged for himself and Vintari to visit Babylon 5, and make the final approach to the station in a pair of Starfuries. Galen arranged for a "malfunction" in Sheridan's weapons system by which Vintari's Starfury would be destroyed. However, before this occurred Sheridan realized Galen used the word "ways" rather than "way". So Sheridan disarmed the weapons system and instead started a friendship with Vintari, in the hope that he could show him that Earth was no threat to the Centauri. Although Galen warned Sheridan this path is by no means certain and may fail, he all but admitted that it was what he really intended Sheridan to pursue. He then disappeared once again.[14]